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Hi,
I have one of these keyboards at home and at the office, in the office I have the whole desktop including the mouse, but at home I only have the keyboard. I upgraded from the Microsoft Ergo 4000 keyboard that I've used for many years. So far I'm enjoying the keyboard but I have an issue that I was wondering if there was a way to fix?
The one at work doesn't seem to have this problem although I use the keyboards differently, at work it's mainly for typing and coding, at home I use it for typing and gaming.
The issue:
The Shift, Alt, and Control buttons when pressed numerous times seem to stick even when they aren't being pressed. For example if I have 3 out of 5 files I want move from one folder to another, if I push and hold control, select the files in the 1st, 3rd, and 5th position with my mouse, after I drag them to the other folder and release the control button, if I click on the 2 remaining files in the original folder, both files are selected even though I'm not holding control down so you'd expect only 1 to be selected.
Same issue happens in games where I've bound hotkeys to use modifiers such as shift, control, or alt. If I'm alternating between 1 and shift-1, eventually just pressing 1 will result in shift-1 being registered. I initially thought that maybe stickey keys was being turned on but I've confirmed that is not the case.
Both cases are resolved by simply pressing the button that's sticking and that fixes it, but when using multiple modifiers, it's hard to determine which one is sticking so it usually results in pressing each of the buttons, alt, control, and shift once until it's back to normal.
Additional Information:
None of these problems seem apparent on my work desktop. I'm using windows 8.1 Pro at home and windows 7 pro at work. At work, my receiver is plugged into a usb switch as I use it for 2 pcs, the switch is 2 ft away from my keyboard position in line of sight.
At home, the usb receiver is plugged into the back of my desktop under my desk, out of line of site? (could this be a problem?)
Any ideas you have to solve either of these issues would be most appreciated.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
I've found a solution:
Open Device Manager
Under Human Interface Devices, locate the Microsoft Hardware USB Keyboard
Right click, Properties
Power Management Tab, Uncheck allow the computer to turn off this device to save power
That fixed it for me, no need to uninstall/change drivers.
I have the same issue, also with the Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard, with an additional twist that nobody has mentioned here yet. In my case, the modifier keys "stick" after five seconds, and also after five seconds, all other keys stop repeating. Can anyone confirm that?
(Of course, all keyboard accessibility options are off.)
An even better test is to open your on-screen keyboard. Just hold down Shift, CTRL, or Alt for 5 complete seconds. Let go, and viola it's still selected.
Thank you, jcross.
Using the mouse (on the onscreen keyboard) to hold down a key for 5 seconds also appears to lock the key, which seems to prove this is not a hardware issue at all.
An even better test is to open your on-screen keyboard. Just hold down Shift, CTRL, or Alt for 5 complete seconds. Let go, and viola it's still selected.
I'm experiencing the same issue with item 1 (not 2, though). IT Pro here, so all the troubleshooting suggestions in this thread were either too base-level or obvious. It's not a Sticky Keys feature issue, it's not drivers of any sort. I feel like it might be a wireless interference issue, with the system failing to acknowledge that the key's been released. But quite consistently, if I hold Ctrl for more than a few seconds while selecting multiple files, it stays pressed as far as the system is concerned. Scrolling causes me to zoom at that point, or trying to select anything individually shows I'm still in Ctrl. Would love someone to acknowledge and find an ACTUAL fix for this issue instead of running us through tier-0.5-level troubleshooting guides.
In researching this further, the bit about how long you were holding down the Ctrl key interested me. I tried to recreate the issue and finally found a way to do it:
If you're like me, then this last file/folder will get selected as if you were still holding down the Ctrl key. Simply tap on the Ctrl key, click another file/folder, then it'll function as if you've actually released the key.
Also found another thread with this similar issue, but on a different Microsoft keyboard: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfacc-surfcover/ctrl-key-gets-locked-stuck-when-it-is-held-down/52df1d43-01a3-4d2b-b257-e880c4d83a42 which makes me hopeful the hardware itself is not flawed.
The only 5 second thing I know about is Toggle Keys, which I currently have turned off to no avail.
